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The White House's use of music to frame its immigration messaging has hit another wall. A video posted by the Trump administration featuring ICE deportation footage set to Kacey Musgraves' two thousand twenty six song Mexico Honey was muted just two days after it went live, the latest in a string of unauthorized music uses drawing pushback from artists and their representatives.
Turning to the creator economy, Variety's Strictly Business podcast brought together leaders from Comscore, Uproxx Studios, and other digital-native firms to unpack what actually drives audience attention and brand deals today. The conversation underscored a familiar tension — platforms want scale, creators want authenticity, and brands are still trying to figure out where those two things overlap.
And in the wearables space, a leak suggests Finnish company Suunto is developing a screenless heart rate monitor, putting it in direct competition with Garmin's Cirqa and the Fitbit Air. The screenless fitness band is quietly becoming its own category, betting that consumers will trade a display for a lighter, simpler device focused purely on health data.
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